Addressing NC’s Education Challenges is Critical for Business
Chamber Aims to Empower & Engage to Attack Dropout Rate
What if you lost 30 cents on every dollar you invested today – what would be the financial repercussions? Today’s reality holds that North Carolina loses 30 percent on its education investments due to students dropping out of high schools.
This year’s high school dropouts in North Carolina will cost the state’s economy $11 billion in wages, taxes and productivity over the students’ lifetime, according to the 2008 Report from Alliance for Excellent Education. Perhaps just as compelling as our civic responsibility to address this alarming problem is the tremendous impact that it has on our business environment. A highly qualified, well-trained workforce is a critical business issue and absolutely necessary if our state is to remain competitive nationally and internationally for jobs and commerce.
Our business community has an important role to play in addressing our state’s dropout epidemic, as we have the opportunity and capacity to help improve our state’s education systems in order to prepare every student to succeed in a competitive international economic environment. The business community understands that a well-educated, globally competitive workforce is key to continued economic growth and vitality in North Carolina. Therefore, bringing attention to this issue, organizing businesses around the problem and providing information and tools to help businesses engage in overcoming this challenge is one of our Chamber’s top priorities.
In investigating and identifying effective ways to help our students stay in school and graduate, our Chamber has facilitated collaboration and built alliances among business, education, government and community organizations that are focused on improving our public schools. Our partners have developed some innovative programs that are helping to build a stronger, more relevant and effective school system that prepares today’s students to be tomorrow’s workforce and future leaders:
State Superintendant Designates Graduation Awareness Week
North Carolina Chamber President and CEO Lew Ebert met with State Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson recently to discuss an upcoming campaign messaging graduation. The campaign will be kicked off by Gov. Mike Easley proclaiming September 7-13 as “Graduation Awareness Week.” During this week, our Chamber will be joining educators, community leaders, parents and students in raising awareness about why it is so important for North Carolina’s economic development that all students graduate. During Graduation Awareness Week, our Chamber will attend a press conference on September 8 that will recognize school districts that have made remarkable achievements to ensure students graduate on time. Click here for more information on this upcoming campaign.
NC New Schools Project: New Demands, New High Schools
The North Carolina New Schools Project has made its mission to develop a high school model that can graduate all of its students ready for college, careers and life. Our Chamber has partnered with this important group in its upcoming “Graduation by Design” Conference. School designers and educators from North Carolina and around the nation will be presenting innovative high schools that they are creating and from which they’re getting promising results. Innovative high schools that graduate all students ready for college, careers and life exist, exhibiting essential design principles that provide the foundation for transforming teaching and learning.
Click here to learn more about this innovative conference, aimed at helping North Carolina implement new tools to tackle the dropout crisis.
NC Business Committee for Education: NC Graduation Project
The North Carolina Chamber is an active member of the North Carolina Business Committee for Education (NCBCE), sharing the mission “to act as a catalyst for systematic change and continuous improvements in public education and act as an advocate, resource, and business voice in public education.” NCBCE is currently implementing its North Carolina Graduation Project, which requires high school students to demonstrate what they know and are able to do as a result of their cumulative education. A part of this project is an innovative mechanism of job shadowing, which aims to promote career awareness, internalizing the knowledge and skills that our 21st-century workforce demands. Job shadowing will help to generate interest and connections among students, leading to graduation, thereby leading to career opportunities for both employers and students. Click here to learn more about this new innovative tool.
Futures for Kids: Strong Workforce Development Tools
Our Chamber is also a proud partner of Futures for Kids (F4K). F4K provides unparalleled access to career information and education training programs for students with technology-based career exploration programs. By forging a direct link between students’ classes and their career goals, F4K demonstrates the relevance of education to future success and provides a valuable tool for combating the dropout rate in North Carolina. Using technology to connect students with businesses across the state helps nurture the passion that keeps our students in school and on the path to fulfilling careers. Click here to learn more about this program.
Communities in Schools: Collaborative Community Strategies
Our Chamber is a proud partner with Communities in Schools North Carolina (CISNC), which is part of the nation’s largest community-based dropout-prevention program. CISNC provides the link between teachers and the community by facilitating the delivery of already-existing community resources to schools across the state. CISNC has been addressing the dropout problem for over 20 years in our state and the network has grown and expanded to 39 local affiliates. Our Chamber’s goal is to help ensure that every county becomes involved in CISNC, facilitating the ongoing effort to cure the dropout epidemic. Click here to learn more and become involved in CISNC.
Engage in Our Chamber’s Dropout Challenge!
The North Carolina Chamber and its partners are leading the charge to get more of our state’s students to the high-school finish line. Our Chamber considers it mission-critical to not only raise awareness of the problem, but also to organize and empower the business community to actively engage in working proactively and productively toward a solution. Click here to join our Chamber’s efforts by participating in our Dropout Challenge.
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